Sealing device for boxes.



PATENTED JULY 30, 1907.

J. L. BURTON. SEALING DEVICE FOR BOXES.,

APPLICATION FILED 0O1.6. 1906.

. 6 awwc-w co f/ UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES L. BURTON, OF PLAINVILLE, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO FRANK A. CHAMPLIN, OF EAST LONG MEADOW, MASSACHUSETTS.

SEALING DEVICE FOR BOXES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented July 30, 1907.

Application filed October 6,1906. Serial No. 337,830.

To all 'whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, JAMEs L. BURTON, a citizen of the United States of America, residing in Plainville, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented new and useful Improvements in Sealing Devices for Boxes, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention relates to an improved construction of devices for securing or sealing the covers of boxes and more especially boxes designed for cigars.

I-Ieretol'ore it has been easy to open a box and disclose and remove the contents without injuring the box or destroying the seal, and this has been especially true with boxes for cigars, as it is quite common for the cover of such a box to warp and break the revenue stamp, thus leaving the box in condition to be opened and closed without its being known; and in some instances it has been quite common with parties handling cigars in boxed form to open the box and by tipping the same cause the upper layers to tilt outwardly thus enabling a party to remove one or more cigars from the lower layers, then tipping the box back to position so that the respective layers will occupy their original normal position, because as the cigars are packed closely in the box the upper layers will not drop and fill the opening underneath, but will retain their original position as packed in the box, so that the fact that some of the cigars" havebeen removed from the lower layers cannot be discovered by merely opening the lid of the box.

It is therefore extremely desirable that a sealing device be provided which, while leaving the exterior surface of the box to which it is applied without projections, will prevent warping of the cover, .and also in sure its being known if the box be opened, and which will also insure the substantial destruction of the revenue stamp when the box is opened.

The object of my invention is to provide a sealing device for a box by which the objectionable features above enumerated will'be avoided.

My invention consists in the. construction and arrangement as herein set out whereby said objections are overcome and ad vantages of my invention attained.

In the accompanying drawings, in which like letters of reference indicate like parts, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a box showing Wire-receiving grooves therein and the adjacent recess adapted to receive the ends of the wire and the seal proper; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a box showing the sealing wire in place in the groove and the seal in its recess; Fig. 3 is a like view showing the revenue stamp in position over the sealing wire and seal, and Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line of the groove.

In detail (1 indicates the body of the box; I) the cover; 0 the wire-receiving groove; (Z the wire therein; 6 the seal-receiving recess; f the opening between the groove and seaLreceiving recess; 9 the seal, and h the revenue stamp.

The arrangement of the sealing device will be readily understood on reference to the drawings, in which, in Fig. 1, I show a perspective view of an ordinary cigar box a and its cover I) having therein a wire-receiving groove 0 extending around the sides, bottom and top of the box, together with a seal-receiving recess 6, preferably circular in form, located adjacent to the groove 0, and by preference in the front side wall of the box, showing also a connecting recess or channel f between the seal-receiving recess a and the groove 0.

While any kind ofwire or other similar material I! may be employed as a fastener I prefer to use fine wire twisted substantially as illustrated in Fig. 2, the end portions being carried through the intermediate groove or channel f and united together and sealed with the seal 9 which seal rests within and preferably fills the recess 6. I

After the sealing device is placed in position the revenue stamp it is passed around the box in the ordinary way covering the sealing wire and seal rendering it necessary to substantially destroy the revenue stamp h whenever the box is opened by the destruction of the seal and the removal of the sealing wire. It willreadily be observed that the box cannot be opened without destroying the cover, cutting the wire, or destroying the seal, and in either event the fact that the box has been opened will be readily discovered. It will also be observed that the surface of the box is left without projections to interfere with the convenient packing or handling of the boxes, and that the device is simple and inexpensive and will securely protect the contents of the box from pilfering, and that whenever the box is opened that fact may be readily ascertained by reason of the condition in which the box is found, and all danger of warping of the cover or other portions of the box so as to rupture the revenue stamp will be avoided.

In sealing appliances heretofore employed for sealing cigar boxes, it has been found that slack was left in the binding wire surrounding the box sufficient to permit of the lifting of the lid far enough for the extraction of cigars from the box. This, it is needless to say, is extremely objectionable, and wherever the seal adapted for uniting the wire ends is located at a distance from the wire-receiving channel, or is located in part at one side and in part at the other side of the channel, slack wire results in either event because of the fact that in order to use the sealing tool upon the seal it is necessary that it be out of its recess and turned to one side or edgewise or raised a suflicient distance to permit of the passage 'of the tool under or on both sidesof it. And it has been usual, where the seal was located in or upon both sides of the wire channel, to double the wire under the seal after using the sealing tool thereon, thus leaving sufficient slack to permit of the opening of the cover a short distance, and where the seal is located at a distance from the wire channel the lifting of the seal from its recess leaves free or slack all that portion of the wire extending between the wire recess and the seal. To overcome these objections I locate the sealreceiving recess close to and wholly at one side of the wire channel so that, upon the binding wire being drawn taut with its ends projecting into or through the seal, the seal standing edgewise in the channel, I am enabled to use the sealing tool thereon, and then I turn the seal as it on a pivot to one side into its receiving recess located as stated closely adjacent to and Wholly at one side of the wire-receiving channel. It will also be seen that this arrangement locates the seal and wire advantageously with reference to the revenue stamp, as the stamp then wholly covers the seal and wire and the seal cannot be tampered with without rupture of the revenue stamp.

Having therefore described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination, in a cigar box, of a box body and a cover provided with a wire-receiving channel extending completely around the box and having a seal-receiving opening located close to and wholly at one side of the wire-receiving groove and connected therewith, and a Wire located in said groove, with a seal uniting the ends of said wire, said seal being in said 'recess closely adjacent said groove and both the wire and the seal being flush with or below the surface of the box, substantially as shown and described;

JAMES L. BURTON Witnesses F. A. CHAMPLIN, F. A. CUTTER. 

